When you are pregnant, you always look forward to feeling your baby move. You count the weeks until you feel those first flutters. You worry when you think it is taking too long. You worry when you finally feel it and think it is too soon. Or you worry that it is early and you don’t feel it every day. Let’s face it – feeling baby move can be wonderful and yet full of worry at times. That said, there are so many funny things that we tell ourselves that our baby’s movements mean.
Here are some examples of the things we pretend to know about baby, just form the movements we feel while pregnant:
- The baby will be a soccer player.
(You can also say football player.) This is something that parents often say when they feel that the baby move with big, swift kicks. One can imagine baby playing uterine soccer inside. While these big kicks are felt only until about thirty-five weeks of pregnancy, at which point baby tends to run out of room for big movements (Not for the lack of trying from some little ones.), they are often well known and visible from the outside. If this is how your baby tends to move, you can expect others to comment on the big movements from baby. - The baby is hyperactive.
Do you have a baby who moves all the time? There are some babies who just move seemingly incessantly. While the baby isn’t really moving constantly, it can move a lot. Some parents worry that this means that their baby will be hyperactive or suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) (with or without hyperactivity). The good news is that fetal movement is not indicative of ADD or hyperactivity. It could just be the confluence of an active baby, a perceptive mom and a well placed placenta.
- We’re having a calm baby.
Sometimes, you feel the baby move just enough to know that he or she is alive and well, and not much else. This can cause some moms to panic or be concerned in general, while others tend to think it means that they are in for a calm baby. While this certainly may be the case, the lack of feeling your baby move a lot doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve got a chill baby on board. It is also, unfortunately, not an indicator of a baby who will be laid back. While it might happen, let’s just call it a happy coincidence. - It’s a gymnast!
Some babies seem to be all over the place. You can watch your belly flip and roll like no body’s business. It can be really fun to watch, and at least early on, it’s pretty incredible to feel as well. Later in pregnancy, as the baby grows, it can be a bit disconcerting to watch your baby move. This baby can also be called the alien baby, because of what it looks like when watching your abdomen. Relax, baby is just trying to find the right position. - The trickster baby.
These babies are so funny. I think of this as being like the old Looney Tunes character, Michigan J. Frog. The frog would dance and sing for his owner, but every time the guy goes to show someone the frog's antics – he does nothing. The trickster baby is just like this frog. S/he will dance and play, thumping you back inside. As soon as you try to share that lovely feeling with your partner or someone else – the baby stops moving. Remove their hand and they go at it again. This can be quite frustrating. Remind the other person not to take it personally.
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